Review: The Essential Sick Stuff by Ronald Kelly

TW/CW: Child Harm/Abuse, Child Abduction, Child Death, Rape, Torture, Snakes, Spiders, Gore, Non-consensual Sexual Encounter

I am a big reader of short story collections. In a collection of a single author, you can sometimes see a range of writing styles, themes, and tropes, like trying on different hats. I have previously reviewed Irish Gothic by Ronald Kelly, a collection of different stories and folklore inspired by the home of Kelly’s ancestors. Beyond that collection, I wasn’t familiar with his writing and jumped at the chance to review The Essential Sick Stuff when it came up on NetGalley.

Growing up on 80’s slasher movies, it takes a lot to gross me out or creep me out. I read the foreword and learned the history behind the stories contained in this collection: a bunch of authors writing the sickest stuff imaginable to try to outdo the others. I was game and ready to go. And I was very wrong, Kelly’s The Essential Sick Stuff got to me.

The Essential Sick Stuff is comprised of two previous collections written by Kelly: The Sick Stuff and More Sick Stuff. This edition has the stories from those collections, along with new sick material. Some of my favorites in The Essential Sick Stuff are:

*Pins And Needles- A serial killer who kills via Halloween candy has struck again, but someone has gives him a taste of his own medicine.

*The Day UPS Brought Zombies- fun and gory story where UPS brings about a zombie apocalypse with a cameo from Brian Keene

*Snakehandler- A preacher comes to town bringing more to fear than just the snakes he handles during Sunday service.

*Suckers! - Scientist begins to experiment on local insects with dangerous results

*The Nipples in Dad’s Toolbox- A young boy helping with home repairs gets a grisly surprise that changes his life.

This collection was a wild, gory, and fun ride. I look forward to reading more of Ronald Kelly’s work in the future.  There are a lot of potential TW/CWs in this book and I attempted to note them when I found them, but what may be a trigger for me may not be for you.  

5/5 Stars

Thanks you to #NetGalley and #SilverShamrockPublishing for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.